Networking and networking connectivity continues to evolve as demand for data services increase. Wireless connection points, for example, are beginning to proliferate in gathering centers like bookstores, coffee shops, and airports. In addition to public wireless connections point, both wired and wireless home networking has also increased in popularity as network technologies have become more accessible to users. In order to enable this level of connectivity, barriers to entry in terms of networking knowledge have been lowered by enabling technology to automatically configure a network. While the result is that more and more users may be able to create networks, this result is not without drawbacks.
One paradigm in computer networking is the concept that each computing device in a network requires a unique identifier. One example identifier is an IP address. An IP address may be used to identify a computing related device such as a node, a printer, a switch, etc. A network server uses IP addresses to keep track of all devices on a defined network. In early networking, IP addresses were manually entered for each device by a network administrator. However, as the number and type of network devices grew, so did the need for a more flexible solution for providing IP addresses.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) was developed to provide more flexible addressing. In particular, DHCP allowed the assignment of dynamic IP addresses to devices on a network. DHCP simplifies network administration because software keeps track of IP addresses rather than requiring a network administrator to manage the task. Early in the development of DHCP, DHCP servers that assigned IP addresses were expensive and required extensive IT knowledge to maintain. However, as access to data services have begun to proliferate, devices, such as wireless routers, switches, and hubs have all begun to offer DHCP server capability in order to simplify network configuration. When these devices are used in isolation, they provide users with an easy, straightforward DHCP service for configuring their individual networks. However, when one of these devices is used in connection with a larger network, the DHCP services offered may conflict with existing services. For example, use of a second DHCP server on an established networking having a DHCP server my result in duplicate IP addresses being assigned to different devices on a network which, in some cases, may result in disruption of service. Compounding the problem is that for many of these devices configured for consumer use, DHCP service is a default setting. Thus, these devices become rogue DHCP servers when used in parallel with an established network that potentially may disrupt network services. Therefore systems and methods for denying rogue DHCP services are presented herein.